A privately owned collection acquired over the past few decades.
Creator
Name
Silvester, William Henry
notes
Laroche, Martin pseudonym, i.e. William Henry Silvester. Born in Lambeth October 1814. Christened October 30 1814 in Newington, Southwark. Md Angelique Sansom (b Holborn 1816) August 27 1836 in Westminster. 2 sons & 3 daughters. STUDIO: 65 Oxford Street, Westminster August 1848 - 1861. Succeeded by W B Hollings. 1851: photographer living at 65 Oxford Street, Westminster. 1861: photographer living at 9 Stanhope Place, St Pancras. 1871: photographer living in Birmingham. 1881: photographer living at 212 Golborne Road, Kensington. In Birmingham 1866 - 1872. Bankrupt January 15 1862 (London Gazette 1862 p 307). BPatent 820 March 20 1866 studio accessories. Started as jeweller before opening as daguerreotypist 1848 (Times adverts August 23; June 14; June 24 1851; March 13 1852). Gallery of Celebrities (photos on enamel) opened May 25 1857. Photos of Mannings, murderers, published as lithographs 1849. Award in Great Exhibition 1851 Class 30 No 252. Artist at 28 Old Bond Street, Westminster June 29 1863 - 1864 (Times adverts June 20 1863; April 2 1864). When Fox-Talbot entered action for patent infringement (Talbotype licence cost ?100 per year), Laroche was confident of overthrowing the patent, defended action at Guildhall Court of Common Pleas. A 3 - day case decided in favour of Laroche, and the collodion process was made free to the world December 20 1854; the case cost Laroche almost ?2000. Laroche's children were Angelina (b 1838); William (b 1840); Emily (b 1842); Frank (b 1844) and Julia (b 1846). Retired by 1873; his son William opened a studio in Llandudno. Strangely, after his father's death, his son claimed in a letter that his father had been 77 at his death, rather than his correct age of 72. Died at 63 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham November 10 1886. LITERATURE: Talbot v Laroche (November 2 1854). Common Bench reports: cases argued & determined in Courts of Common Pleas & Exchequer Vol 15 (Michaelmas Term 1855) pp 310 - 321; (Report of law case). IN Practical Mechanics Journal Vol 7 February 1855 pp 261 - 262; The photographic patent right: Talbot v Laroche. IN Art Journal February 1855 pp 49 - 54; J. Baker Edwards. Observations on the chemical points at issue in the trial Talbot v. Laroche. IN Liverpool Photographical Journal Vol 2 March 10 1855 pp 40 - 42; W. H. Thornthwaite. Correspondence: Talbot v. Laroche. IN Art Journal April 1 1855 p 127; The photographic patent right: Talbot v. Laroche. IN Photographic & Fine Art Journal Vol 8 April 1855 pp 101 - 110; Fox-Talbot v. Laroche. IN Photographic & Fine Art Journal Vol 8 August 1855 p 234; (Article) IN PN April 26 1889 p 286; Werge p 116; R.D. Wood. William Grove, counsel for the plaintiff in the calotype patent lawsuit of Talbot v. Laroche 1854. Bromley, the author, 1975; H. J. P. Arnold. Fox-Talbot. London, Hutchinson Benham, 1977. pp 199 - 200; Richard Foulkes. The Laroche photographs of Charles Kean's Shakespeare revivals. IN Theatrephile Vol 2 No 8 1986 pp 29 - 33, illus; R.D. Wood. Martin Laroche was not a Canadian. IN History of Photography Vol 20 1996 pp 371 - 373, illus. COLLECTIONS: Garrick Club; National Theatre Museum; Mander & Mitchenson Collection.
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